July 24, 1971 (Japan)
Godzilla vs. Hedorah (ゴジラ対ヘドラ, Gojira tai Hedora) is a 1971 Japanese kaiju film directed by Yoshimitsu Banno, co-written by Banno and Takeshi Kimura, and produced and distributed by Toho Co., Ltd. It is the 11th film in the Godzilla franchise, and features the fictional monster characters Godzilla and Hedorah. The film stars Akira Yamauchi, Toshie Kimura, and Hiroyuki Kawase, with special effects by Teruyoshi Nakano, and features Haruo Nakajima as Godzilla and Kenpachiro Satsuma as Hedorah. Satsuma would go on to portray Godzilla in later Godzilla films.
Godzilla vs. Hedorah features an environmentalist message, with the malevolent Hedorah being spawned from pollution. The film was released theatrically in Japan on July 24, 1971. It received a theatrical release in the United States under the title Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster in July 1972 by American International Pictures, as a double feature with the American film The Dethmaster.